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First look at the consumer version of Oculus Rift.

At long last, Oculus this morning announced a timeframe for the consumer version of its Rift virtual reality headset, saying it will ship the device in the first quarter of 2016, with preorders starting later this year.

It promises to be a watershed moment for virtual reality, a technology with far-reaching implications for everything from real estate to education. Announcing Facebook’s acquisition of Oculus last year, Mark Zuckerberg touted the potential of virtual reality for medicine, sports and, of course, social networking.

But in case there was any doubt, the announcement by Oculus this morning makes it clear that this initial version of the Rift is a gaming device, first and foremost: “It’s a system designed by a team of extremely passionate gamers, developers, and engineers to reimagine what gaming can be,” the company says.

“The Oculus Rift builds on the presence, immersion, and comfort of the Crescent Bay prototype with an improved tracking system that supports both seated and standing experiences, as well as a highly refined industrial design, and updated ergonomics for a more natural fit,” the post says. “In the weeks ahead, we’ll be revealing the details around hardware, software, input, and many of our unannounced made-for-VR games and experiences coming to the Rift.”

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Inside the Oculus Rift

More technical details will be released next week, the company says.

One unanswered question is price. Oculus co-founder Nate Mitchell said in an 2014 interview with Eurogamer that the company was targeting the $200-$400 range, but this morning’s announcement doesn’t offer any clues.

And now that we have a timeframe for the Oculus Rift release, there’s another big, unanswered question: Will Microsoft HoloLens make it to market first?

Let the virtual reality wars begin.

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